This magalog has all the hallmarks of a Clayton Makepeace piece! I’ll go out on a limb and say he’s the copywriter.
This deck copy is a textbook example of dimensionalization in alternative health copy. The “normal” approach would be citing some “one dimensional” statistics, like “X number of Americans die each year.” Here’s how Clayton tackles it. [Read more…]
How often do you see a full fledged real estate investment pitch like this in the New York Times?
This ad was on fire in the Wild West of workshops in real estate investing and had thousands of insertions. [Read more…]
He was the alternative-health guru featured season after season on PBS fundraising appeals and in direct mail pitches that hit mailboxes from coast to coast.
Yet, this guru is somewhat unique because he was almost poisoned to death by a dietary supplement — HIS OWN.
He had to practically sue himself when one of his contractors put too much Vitamin D into his proprietary Ultimate Power Meal — 1,000 times too much. [Read more…]
This ad for Dr. Sears’ Ultra Accel (CoQ10) continues it’s dominance in print.
This control headline has been going strong since March of 2017.
With the crash in newsstand sales during this covid chapter, the herd has thinned out in the print ad supplements category.
This ad seems like it has only gotten stronger. Sure, there’s been a LOT of testing, but the control headline keeps on winning. [Read more…]
Even on those days when I feel jaded about the state of direct response — yes, I’m a hopeless nostalgist — all I need to do is break open a classic magalog like this to buoy my spirits.
And after this last week of packing up my ad archive and shipping out of the desert retreat I’ve held down for fifteen years, there’s enormous satisfaction in consuming a timeless classic like this. [Read more…]
This spread hails from that under the radar copywriter who’s sold over a BILLION dollars worth of health and beauty products since the early 2000s.
His services are so essential to this conglomerate’s revenue that they wisely bought him a MANSION. [Read more…]
It’s amazing what an average marketer… with a middle of the road product can do… with the MAGIC of origin marketing.
Disclaimer!
The magalog at the left is no also ran. It mailed from coast to coast for many years and it’s a textbook example of origin marketing.
What’s “origin marketing?” [Read more…]
No supplements for sale in this 1,971 word epic.
This weight loss ad lasted the equivalent of several lifetimes (from 1992-2004) at a time when outrageous claims dripped off the page of almost every diet ad.
This one is different.
What are the 15 fat-burning foods? You’ve GOT to read the ad. [Read more…]
Welcome to the heart of self-help!
If you want to know more about evergreen products (and pitches) that sell… you’ve come to the right place.
This is as evergreen as it gets.
In May of 2018, I gave a presentation to Perry Marshall’s peeps.
Up until a few days before the webinar, I was stuck.
What could I talk about that would be RELEVANT, but almost unknown to most?
Ah, AdWords On Paper!
Yes, I know it’s not 2005 anymore and Perry’s gone waaaay beyond Adwords, as Evolution 2.0 makes plain. Yet, I miss those bygone days when you could pick up the phone and reach Perry on his mobile.
Run an ad like this today only if ORANGE is your absolute favorite color. Prison orange.
Seriously, there are just too many ways to end up in HOT water with the powers that be if you’re loosey-goosey with claims in the weight loss market. You need a competent advertising lawyer who KNOWS the law and knows the supplements market. Of course, it helps having a good product as well. [Read more…]
Newspaper print may be on its way out, , but the TECHNIQUE of print will always be with us because human nature is unchanging.
Shhhh! Don’t tell the transhumanists.
Seriously, when you run across a half a MILLION insertions — from tinytorials (tiny advertorials) to full page ads — for a product with almost universal appeal, you can learn something, no matter what you’re selling. [Read more…]
You know how penny stock pitches work.
What seems like it’s for offer is NOT the real thing being offered.
Have a look at Boiler Room on Paper… 5,832 Word Penny Stock Pitch for the lowdown on this market.
For now, here’s the latest penny pitch hitting mailboxes across America.
As per usual, this penny pitch leads with big promise + urgency. [Read more…]
Hey, if I told you this mailing was a textbook example of enargia, you might say, “I’ll take a raincheck!” I’m not projecting my own ignorance — I was in the dark about this rhetorical term for years.
What’s enargia?
A picture is worth a thousand words, so take this picture in. [Read more…]
Caples on Copy, published in 1978, was part of the brilliant “The Wall Street Journal. It Works.” campaign.
This print ad is like getting a bite size version of Tested Advertising Methods. (Note: the 4th edition or earlier of that book is the way to go because later editions include an ivory tower ad man.)
There’s all kinds of timeless wisdom in this ad like: [Read more…]
This magalog continues mailing like gangbusters in July of 2021.
This alternative health hit packs the best of everything into one package: powerful proof elements galore, blockbuster product blueprints, world class design, BIG promise positioning, bonus overload bonanza… all backed by a zero risk guarantee. [Read more…]
Here’s a fantastic “toll position” marketing piece from First Federal Coin.
Their inserts rode along for years in millions of direct mail packages. [Read more…]
It’s the tried and true “tiny pill” response booster.
It was a HUGE headline in print between 2010 and 2014.
Currently, it’s hibernating. [Read more…]
Here’s a current (July 2021) alternative health info product offer with full page insertions in national publications, like Parade.
This “FREE + Shipping” offer for a 3-month trial subscription to Dr. Brownstein’s Natural Way to Health uses a proven alternative health topic to yank down response and acquire paid subscribers. [Read more…]
When an advertising legend pays tribute to earlier legends, it’s worth taking note.
I won’t bet my life on it, but I’d wager Gary Bencivenga was behind this ad for Marty Edelston’s recession marketing classic, I-POWER which ran in 1994. [Read more…]
Whenever I see an eye-popping promo like this, I make a point of saving the page on a dedicated hard drive.
You can’t count on bookmarks, nor can you even count on Archive.org
When you bump into some direct response dynamite, it’s always best to save it.
Or you can just stick around here, 🙂 [Read more…]
This 27-year control in both the mail and print wasn’t top dog for lack of competition.
Let’s hear it straight from the copywriter’s mouth.
Malcolm Decker was one of the greats of direct mail copywriting for many decades.
Since there’s no greater tribute to our advertising legends than their ads, here’s a fitting one. [Read more…]
This may not be a high ticket offer, but it boasts a strong PRESTIGE appeal in the mold of the Bonner Private Portfolio.
“I’d like to invite you to join us at special kind of “round table.”
At this table, you’ll meet millionaire businessmen and best-selling writers, gold and currency experts, market historians and economists. [Read more…]
There are several great things about mail order that will never go away.
First off, a GREAT direct mail package that lands in the RIGHT prospect’s hands creates a private bubble… FREE of the myriad of digital distractions that surround online and mobile media. [Read more…]
Who’s my favorite “tag team” in direct response?
If you twisted my arm, I’d have to go with Clayton Makepeace and Martin Weiss.
Clayton is forever enshrined in the pantheon of direct response legends and his long time client, Martin Weiss, was the king of financial newsletters. The Safe Money Report is surely on the short list of the greatest newsletter titles of all time. [Read more…]
